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Shining a light on hidden influences: Why Ohio must pass SB10 and HB 105

During my years in the Ohio House of Representatives, I dedicated myself to upholding the core values of fairness, transparency, and accountability in government. These principles have continued to guide my service as a Columbiana County Commissioner. Today, I see a troubling issue that threatens the integrity of our legal system, the vitality of our communities, and the stability of our small businesses: secretive third-party litigation funding. This practice allows outside financiers —often hedge funds or private equity firms with no connection to the people or facts involved in a ...

Small personal investment benefits entire community

There are a lot of positive developments underway in the City of Salem. We recently passed a levy that will bring Salem an $80 million new, much-needed elementary/middle school campus. We recently secured over $1 million in state funding to complete a new town square, which will be a focal point for our historic downtown shopping district Another $450,000 in private donations has been raised to expand that town square park area over to the Memorial Building. And we are very near on an announcement that a new, multi-million dollars South Lincoln overpass bridge is to be built over ...

Enthusiasm strong for Ramaswamy and Walz

The biggest takeaway from the Mahoning County Republican Party Lincoln Day dinner, headlined by Vivek Ramaswamy, and the town hall with Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz is that this area is not lacking in political enthusiasm. This is the case even though the presidential election was five months ago, and we’re in an off-election year with only local government candidates on the ballot. The statewide election is more than a year away. The impact of that presidential election is being felt with Republicans still excited about Donald Trump’s victory and his subsequent policies with a ...

County leadership urges passing of sales tax renewal

On the May 6 Primary Ballot, the voters of Columbiana County will once again be asked to renew its 1% “permissive” sales & use tax, a tax which has been in effect in Columbiana County for the past three decades. This tax assesses one penny for every dollar of goods we purchase in the county. Are we the only county to have this sort of tax instrument? No, we are not. In fact, there are permissive sales taxes in place in every other single county in Ohio, 50 of which are at the same tax rate as Columbiana County, according to the Ohio Department of Taxation. Many of these other 49 ...

A looming port and trade catastrophe

During the pandemic, Americans learned how painful supply chain disruptions can be. Now, a newly proposed action from the Trump administration could unintentionally make the pandemic’s supply chain disruptions seem tame. President Trump is looking to rapidly rebuild American shipbuilding. That’s an important goal since the erosion of U.S. shipbuilding—and China’s growing dominance in global shipbuilding—must be confronted. But the administration’s proposed plan could send costs soaring for U.S. consumers, grind U.S. exports to a halt, wreak havoc at U.S. ports, and ...

Will there be a political comeback for Brown?

Throughout his political career, Democrat Sherrod Brown has talked about the “dignity of work.” So it came as little surprise that Brown recently announced the creation of the Dignity of Work Institute, which will focus on empowering and growing the middle class. But Brown also is a career politician who spent 48 of the previous 50 years in elected office. He wanted to spend at least six more years, but lost in November to Republican Bernie Moreno for the Senate seat Brown held for the previous 18 years. While Brown wanted to talk Monday to the media about his new institute, there ...